Rossi’s Deal with University of Bologna Collapses

Andrea Rossi’s agreement to test his ecat Low Energy Nuclear Reaction technologyat the University of Bologna has apparently collapsed. There have been reports that Rossi had a deal to test ecat units at the school and the schools’ department of physics would do LENR research with Rossi. Many people thought Rossi would have his technology tested and confirmed by third party researchers there.

The University of Bologna has apparently ended its research contract with Ross, Steven Krivit of the New Energy Times reports. On January 24, 2012, Krivit reported that he had talked with Dario Braga the Director of Scientific Research at the University. Krivit reported that Braga told him that the school’s deal with Rossi was off because Rossi had not made a promised payment.

Logo of the University of Bologna

“The contract ended on January 15 and has been cancelled by the University,” Braga said. “Therefore, there is no further relationship between the University and Rossi or his company.”

This could mean that Rossi is still having money problems. Even though he seems to be pushing ahead with plans to manufacture ecats for home use and to build a robotized factory to manufacture them. He apparently has a deal to sell one of his 1MW ecats but the unit is still at his facility in Bologna.

his workshop and research facility is in Bologna and he works closely with two retired University of Bologna professors Sergio Focardi and Guisseppe Levi. Rossi recently stated that he will have the ecat tested and verified by professors at two universities he did not identify. In the past Rossi has stated that he wants to test the device at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. Rossi has close connections with that country and with two professors there Hano Esson and Sven Kullander who have examined ecat.

Andrea Rossi and his partner Sergio Focardi at an E-Cat Demonstration in January 2010

Rossi visited Boston in November and apparently reached out to universities there. Major schools located near Boston include Harvard and MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology). MIT is one of the leading technology schools in the United States and it does have close connections with the US military industrial complex. It has also been a center of hot fusion research and cold fusion criticism. Although Peter L. Hagelstein one of the leaders of the Cold Fusion Energy Inc. consortium of LNER scientists and a noted LNER advocate is a professor and researcher there.

There is no word on what other schools Rossi might have reached out too. One possibility might be the University of Missouri. Dr. Robert Duncan the Vice Chancellor of Research at that school has been an outspoken LENR advocate. He has asked for national research funds on the subjects and works closely with Energetics.

It should be noted here that Steven Krivit is a long time critic of Rossi who has become increasingly hostile to the Italian-American inventor in recent months. The reason for Krivit’s hostility is unclear but it could be motivated by prejudice against Rossi’s nationality. In his latest blog post Krivit refers to Rossi as “an Italian man.” He also calls Rossi a liar. Therefore everything Krivit says should be taken with a grain of salt.

It should also be noted here that some sort of third party testing of the ecat by scientists, technicians and others is required. Rossi’s claims need to be verified in order to see if this LENR technology works. Especially since his competitors like Brillouin and Defakalion seem to be allowing such tests of their technology.